Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on 14 Sept 2010 introduced the Better Buying Power initiative. The goal of the Better Buying Initiative is to obtain greater efficiency and productivity in defense spending by delivering the warfighting capabilities needed for the money available. The initiative is broken up into 5 main areas and 23 individual objectives. The 23 objectives seek to restore affordability in defense procurement and to improve defense industry productivity. The objectives are listed below:

Target Affordability and Control Cost Growth
1. Mandate affordability as a requirement
2. Drive productivity growth through Will Cost/Should Cost management
3. Eliminate redundancy within warfighter portfolios
4. Make production rates economical and hold them stable
5. Set shorter program timelines and manage to themIncentivize Productivity and Innovation in Industry
6. Reward contractors for successful supply chain and indirect expense management
7. Increase the use of Fixed-Price Incentive Firm Target (FPIF) contract type where appropriate using a 50/50 share line and 120 percent ceiling as a point of departure
8. Adjust progress payments to incentivize performance
9. Extend the Superior Supplier Incentive Program (SSIP) to a DoD-wide pilot
10. Reinvigorate industry’s independent research and development and protect the defense technology basePromote Real Competition
11. Present a competitive acquisition strategy at each program milestone
12. Remove obstacles to competition
13. Increase dynamic small business role in defense marketplace competitionImprove Tradecraft in Services Acquisition
14. Create a senior manager for acquisition of services in each component, following the Air Force’s example
15. Adopt uniform taxonomy for different types of services
16. Address causes of poor tradecraft in services acquisition
17. Increase small business participation in providing servicesReduce Non-Productive Processes and Bureaucracy
18. Reduce the number of OSD-level reviews to those necessary to support major investment decisions or to uncover and respond to significant program execution issues
19. Eliminate low value-added statutory processes
20. Reduce by half, the volume and cost of internal and congressional reports
21. Reduce non-value-added overhead imposed on industry
22. Align Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) and Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) processes to ensure work is complementary
23. Increase use of Forward Pricing Rate Recommendations (FPRRs) to reduce administrative costs

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